In 1611, in the Cornish language book the Creation of the World the Bucca is mentioned and some believe that the word is a borrowing into Cornish from Old English 'puca'. A cognate form in Welsh is of similar non-Brythonic Celtic origin, demonstrated in Cornish by the middle 'cc' which does not occur in Brythonic Celtic. According to the Oxford English Dictionary pwca is possibly of Scandinavian origin. Use of the term Púka in Ireland, however, may predate the arrival of Norse settlers and could be an alternative origin of the word with considerable cultural exchange with Ireland occurring in the Early Christian era.
Folklore
In 1890, the Cornish folklorist William Bottrell stated that: In keeping with Bottrell's findings, various folkloric investigations around the same time that Bucca seems to have featured in two forms, Bucca Widn and Bucca Dhu. Bucca also seems to associated with the wind, in Penzance it was customary to refer to storms that emanated from a southwesterly direction as "Bucca calling"; sailors and fishermen also believe that Bucca's voice carried on the wind. Bucca was also sometimes described as a tin-mining spirit, which may indicate a wider fertility origin than that of the sea. Also in the 19th century, there were reports of fishermen venerating Bucca with offerings. These included food offerings, particularly of fish, given to Bucca on beaches. One such beach used for this purpose was the area of Newlyn known formerly as Park an Grouse where a stone cross was allegedly once situated. Similar offerings were recorded on the beaches of Mousehole and Newlyn "Town". The Tale of the Sea Bucca describes the Bucca inhabiting Lamorna Cove with the dark brown skin of a conger eel and a tangle of seaweed for hair and given to swimming in the waves, lying in the sea caverns or sitting among the rocks with the birds. He was a very lonely creature who had once been a human prince cursed by a witch, but was very fond of children. He assisted the Lamorna fishermen by driving fish into their nets and crabs into their pots, yet was capable of terrible vengeance and so they avoided him leaving a share of their catch on the beach to placate him. During the 18th and 19th centuries, folklorists generally interpreted the popular beliefs and practices they found as survivals from or relics of Catholicism, equating such 'survivals' with Paganism. Some also saw the continuation of practices from pre-Christian times. This idea has been discredited in recent years by academic folklorists. although this notion persists in the popular imagination. There is little surprise that the Reverend W. S. Lach-Szyrma should have interpreted Bucca as the "storm god of the old Cornish", equating this figure with the Devil. As a bucca-boo this spirit was also invoked by parents as a bogeyman figure to frighten children into proper behaviour, especially those who wouldn't stop crying. In the 19th century a new road was built between Penzance and Land's End and the Tolcarne River was bridged; this area was called Bucca's pass.
Modern influence
groups, principally the Witchcraft coven of Ros An Bucca, have begun to acknowledge the Bucca in their rites. In the children's bookThomas and the Tinners by Jill Paton Walsh, Buccas are presented as fairies who work in Cornish tin mines, granting wishes in exchange for food.
